Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Welcoming sister back home

As you may or may not know, one of my sisters was volunteering overseas for a while (you can read more about that here under the "vacation" tag) and she arrived back home safe and soundly on Friday. I took the day off to greet her at the airport and we spent all weekend together just catching up and getting the giant immigration luggage unpacked. And as you should all know by now, I welcome the occasion to shower people with products and cleared one whole shelf of the medicine cabinet for her in the bathroom. It's a two-tiered shelf divided into four units and I had been hogging the entire thing. My brother only has a shaving gel, shaver, hair gel and body lotion (his shampoo and face/body cleanser are kept in the shower) and keeps them out in the open on the bathroom counter. His succinct response when I offered him a corner once upon a time: "That's okay." followed by an ultra judgey look at the crowded cabinet units.

Anyway, in my sister's new unit are products that I know she would like and products that I don't need that she might like.

What you guys don't know is that while I style myself as the "reductionista", she's the most hardcore and truest of all reductionistas ever in the history of human beings. When we last corresponded before she boarded her flight, I told her to not bother with packing half-empty containers and to just come home with the clothes on her back. She said yes... and returned with pretty much everything she had been using. Half empty bottles of sunscreen, lotions... everything. And when she saw that I was about to toss an old lotion into the empties bag, she said it was still full and proceeded to wrestle every last drop of lotion out of it. When I mentioned that some people even cut up the tubes to use up every tiny bit, she looked at me as if I were the crazy one for not doing it. God, I love her so much.

Anyway, here's a glimpse at my shelf. These are the products I either use daily or am attempting to finish and get rid of.

And above it are some more stuff. And below is a giant cabinet full of even more things. And in my room is another cabinet full of things... along with boxes of samples that I should have reviewed months ago. @__@ <--- my overwhelmed face

Sister: YOU HAVE SO MANY THINGS.

Me: Yes.

Sister: SOOOOOOOOOO MANY!!!

Me: I like it that way.

Sister: FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously. If this blog isn't a record of first world problems, I don't know what is. I continue to simultaneously hoard and horrify. I stocked up on some communal products, foreseeing that my sister and I will be sharing and going through things more quickly, and really wish she would just leave the purchasing of products to me. But the result is now we have multiple sets of everything and it's driving the both of us crazy.

The good thing is we both like to see products to the very end. And I'm happy to have my hard-working sister back. The house feels 300% more crowded, but it's nice, and we won't get into fights and arguments for a few weeks at least. Now if we could both just get jobs and/or better jobs, life would be just about perfect.

Story time! How easy or difficult would it be for you to make room in your bathroom for a new occupant? I'm anticipating some hilarious answers from you crazy beauty lovers.

42 comments:

I've had a very similar situation a couple weeks back when my mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law came over for a visit. I tried tidying up our bathroom but there's not a lot of space to start with, and my mother-in-law demanded we find something for them to store their toiletries - and they had A LOT with them too. Finally I just gave her a huge plastic drawer/container to put their things into, but there were some judgey looks involved as well. Oh, and when she saw my nail polish collection? 'I think it might be time for kids, Monika.'. And then they proceeded to use them all with gusto. Pffff.

Sounds PAINFUL! After that sort of comment, I would have forbidden her from usage, good relations be damned. This just reinforces my desire to find a well-adjusted orphan to marry... LOL. You are a saint!

I honestly admire your patience and good will. We have two rooms appartment and the bathroom is big enough for two, but not big enough for two (or god-forbid more) makeup and cosmetics loving people. And we do not have any counters in the bathroom, just rims around the bath tube, along the whole wall under the mirror (above the sink) and the surface of the washing machine. I am storing everything there, except makeup and nail varnishes. Last time my mother-in-law was visiting, she kept all her belongings in makeup bags in the other room. Not that I told her to do so, but she saw for herself that I was not willing to make space for anyone else in the bathroom :D And I am never, never, ever sharing my cosmetic products. I am willing to let a similarly makeup addicted friend to swatch anything (swatch, not actually use), but if anyone else even tries, I have this "I will bite and I am not even remotely kidding" face ready. Noone has dared. Yet :D

Uhh...impossible. There's not room! Though I haven't been filling so much with my own purchases as much as things from others I can't seem to toss. When my mom moved she gave me like, 10 unopened deodorants she'll never use. That takes up space!!! I have a 'linen' type closet in my bathroom that actually has towels etc and not more of my stuff. So I suppose I could make room in there ;P

LMAO! What was she doing with 10 deodorants? Value-based bulk buying, I suppose. :) Maybe you can put those into boxes that can be stored in closets and create more room in the cabinets that way? The potential for forgetting about them is inevitable but maybe it'll be a blessing in disguise. lol I'm having a bit of a giggling fit now!

Isn't that the worst?!?! It's like women with fabulous skin looking for the best foundation and skinny people talking about losing weight! My mom doesn't understand what deodorants are and was like, "People just need to take more showers!" LOL

I actually don't keep my beauty stuff in the bathroom, besides contact solution, two bottles of hair stuff, and eye makeup remover. My shower stuff is in the shower, naturally, and then all of my skincare is on my dresser. People shouldn't be in my bedroom, so I think it's generally okay :D

We have two sinks, so I typically clean up the area around the Mr.'s sink, hehe. We have a cart in the bathroom too, which is usually empty and good for visitors' stuff. I think your little cabinet is a nice size and has a good number of products. Mine are all out in the open on the coutertop in baskets and drawers and the like. It probably looks like a crazy beauty blogger's bathroom.... which in fact it is.

I don't like having them on countertops because it's a shared space and prone to getting super messy really quickly between three people. Also dust seems to settle much more visibly when they're out there. I think I'll just keep on hogging the cabinets for as long as possible. No one detects my crazy until they open up the units. ;)

Surprisingly it wouldn't be too difficult. I recently cleared everything out of an old wardrobe in my bedroom and proceeded to fill it up with my beauty products and dub it my very own "beauty closet". I still have makeup and skincare products bursting out of every crevice in the bathroom, however--but I could definitely move it all to the wardrobe if I needed to :)

I think that's what I need - one fully stocked beauty closet and get all the little things here and there out of the multiple units and drawers! The bathroom is a special place though. No sense in moving out things that you reach for all the time.

When my sister and her husband visited I cleared a drawer and some closet space for them to use. I was so proud of myself like it was such a great feat. However, they just continued to live out of their suitcases for the duration of their trip.

Bathrooms would be a greater challenge but there's a large window ledge that would accommodate the addition of a few more products. Whenever my sister visits, she's a bit in shock of what we have but she likes the option of choosing a different shampoo to use each day.

Awww, so happy you have your sister back! That's so nice!Luckily I have my own drawer and my hubby has his own. We also have a shelf where hair products are, because Marky shares them with me, even though she uses them all. She has hair. I don't really. I use only gel and hairspray now. :)

I consider hair products to be communal, though my brother insists on having a special gel of his own for that extra spiky thing he likes to do. I keep the hair products in the giant cabinet under the sink and it takes up about half of that space while body care and appliances takes up the other half. Marky is so lucky, that's all I have to say! :)

Fiance and I aren't living together yet but I have a heap of skincare at his place all the same. He has a bunch of stuff to guest review for me, but because I bought them/obtained them for him, I feel like it's all my stuff deep down anyway, so sharing the room is alright haha. I have a new system where I keep an empty glossybox full of the skincare I need each day, it's making me use up things more and when I'm lazy everything I have to slap on my face is within arms reach. I'd hate to share a cabinet with someone other than Mr though, I did it once when my cousin lived with us after coming from the UK, and I could've murdered her. I hate sharing >< lol x

I try to do that too - pull out things that need to be worked on and make them more visible. I really get sick of trying to finish the same lippie every day though so they get more of a break than other products.

I gave my cousin one unit of the bathroom cabinet like I did with my sister, when she lived with us for 6 months (was supposed to be 3 months). I told her she could use whatever I had, but she was a bit of a snob and stuck to just her things. I had bigger issues with her wanting to borrow my clothes. ;)

When we recently moved into our new home, hubby and I marked our territories (not by peeing, more like spraying our respective perfumes :D). We have two bathrooms and hubby claimed the only cabinet in the bathroom with shower to keep his shaving stuff and things. The other bathroom has no cabinets, no shower, just a bath and I have filled the bath and its surroundings with what I use. We hardly have visitors, if we do have someone I'll just lock the other bathroom and let them use hubby's space :DWow, it feels so gratifying to read that your sister uses up her stuff to the last drop! x

Of course, things aren't always warm 'n fuzzy. Does it ever happen to you when you're hanging out with the Sister, all smiles and giggles, when someone misinterprets a phrase or a "tone" of voice and the mood suddenly shifts? A mini blow-out ensues. Followed by silence/disgruntlement. Then everything goes back to normal 5 mins later.

Hahahahahahaha!! I did grow up with three younger siblings and was taught to share since before turning two years old. Between the siblings having come and gone over the years, I managed to firmly place my clothes and books into all three upstairs bedroom. I think they're really lucky, actually. They have the equivalents of salon/drugstore, book store and a clothing store at their disposal. It sucks for my brother who can't wear my clothes, though I feel like he could wear some of my larger pants if he really tried. >:D

Ahhh, but you haven't seen the contents of the giant cabinet under the sink nor the beauty dresser in my bedroom... ;) I was doing much better at one point but it's gotten rather chaotic again recently. I trust you will make excellent use of all that empty space! :>

I MAKE ROOM FOR NO ONE. Haha. I just had a friend stay the night with me and I told him to deal with the lack of space. Maybe that's a little mean but ... it IS my place.

The fact that your sister says "first world problems" reminds me exactly of my relationships with one of my own sisters! We say that to each other all the time when we find ourselves complaining or talking about .. well, first world problems! Love it!!

Haha! But he's a guy and doesn't need all that room. THEY PEE STANDING UP FOR CHRIST'S SAKE.

I feel like we say it more often lately, but it's because my sister just finished up humanitarian work and is still adjusting to our frivolous western lifestyle. ;) I was thinking about this a little more today actually and feel like it requires even more thinking about.

I often get called out by my husband on why I need so many beauty products. Well, I like to try to new things and having a beauty blog does not help my passion or addiction. There are worse addictions out there:)

Welcome back for your sister - you sound so happy to have her home, which makes me happy in turn!I can't believe you were able to make so much room for her in the medicine cabinet (or that you even thought of doing that - I have only a brother, so obviously my brain doesn't go in that direction!) - I'm constantly going through my stuff and trying to arrange things to make more room, but as soon as there's a spot, something else seems to take up residence - it's like my cabinet has a life of its own, lol!

Thanks, Eugenia! She's my best friend so I'm definitely over the moon to have her back. :D

And as for sharing, anything of mine is hers, too, so it hardly matters who uses which cabinet space, but it's the polite thing to do. LOL One day I would love to see your treasure trove!!! Bet your daughter will never want to move out. ;)

Your sister is awesome. But then I think you both are fantastic. I sometimes wish I had a little sister to shower with stuff, but then who knows how that would work out. I do have a best friend that I put packages together for. So that's something. In our house there is no room for my insane products in the bathroom. Just a few items that I have to transfer into smaller containers. Have I told you about my container fetish, 'tis unreal.

Like, tupperware parties and all that? Or frequent trips to the Container Store?? I can easily see that becoming addicting. I have an aversion to plastic containers but love any pretty ceramic stuff at Indigo (our major book/lifestyle store chain) and Anthropologie.

Trips to The Container Store and way too much time at Target, just way too much time. I just reorganized everything last night. It was insane, took me hours. It looks so pretty right now. But it may be asking too much of plastic drawers, we shall see.